One FC
6’s main event between former Dream and
Shooto
champion Shinya Aoki
and little-known lightweight Arnaud
Lepont went exactly as most onlookers imagined it would.
However, the 85-second submission for Aoki in the headliner was one
of the few routine, expected components of the promotion’s third
offering inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang.

Aoki, 29, last saw action in April inside the Bellator
cage where former victim Eddie
Alvarez turned the tables, stopping him in just over two
minutes. Arnaud, a Frenchman training out of Kuala Lumpur’s
Muayfit, was on his back in seconds. He was mounted in less
than a minute. The submission wizard then moved to an armbar, only
to bait Lepont into a triangle. Lepont was unconscious within
seconds, prompting referee Yuji Shimada to intervene.

Aoki, now 30-6 (1 NC), cited the importance of Singapore’s Evolve
MMA gym to him post-fight and declared his intent to bring a
title home to the gym. If that is to happen, he’ll need to go
through fellow veteran Japanese Shootor Kotetsu
Boku, who earned One FC’s inaugural lightweight crown with a
thrilling come-from-behind knockout of another Evolve MMA fighter,
Zorobabel
Moreira, in one of 2012’s most exciting contests.

The 35-year-old Boku sported a thick, shrouding beard literally and
figuratively in the fight. Typically a boxing technician, the Krazy
Bee fighter threw with reckless abandon and relied on grit in the
contest, absorbing copious jabs and kicks from the 6-foot-3
Brazilian. Partway through the first round, a whipping overhand
right from Boku collapsed “Zoro,” putting the Japanese fighter just
punches away from a stoppage.

Incredibly, Moreira not only weathered the storm, but upon
regaining his feet, took over the fight with his kicking offense.
He welted the lead left leg of Boku, spinning him around with
kicks. On the ground, he threatened by submission before standing
up and delivering his now-trademark soccer kicks, forcing Boku
fetal.

By the third round, Moreira looked like he was on his way to a
title belt and even richer prospect status. Boku, however, gave no
quarter and within seconds of the third-round bell landed a counter
right on the charging Brazilian, dropping him against the fence.
Boku followed with two-handed punching until Moreira fell to his
backside, referee Yuji Shimada toppling over him for the sudden
stop, just 31 seconds into the round.

The first One FC title belt, however, went to South Korean Soo Chul
Kim, who pulled off a comeback win of his own, earning revenge
by knocking out favored Evolve MMA standout Leandro
Issa just 15 seconds into the second round of their
rematch.

The 20-year-old Seoul native was stuck on bottom and dominated for
most of round one. However, the
Team Force fighter heard the first-round bell, and then ensured
their second clash was different from their first meeting in
September of last year. As soon as the second round got underway, a
counter left hook from Kim collapsed Issa, who ate follow-up shots
until referee Kenichi
Serizawa dove in for the save.

Kim, now 7-4 as a pro, has won three straight bouts, all of which
could arguably be considered upsets, besting Issa, Filipino
prospect Kevin
Belingon and Japan’s Shoko Sato.
Issa, who had his seven-bout winning streak snapped, falls to
10-3.

The first three quarterfinals of One FC’s bantamweight grand prix
kicked off in Kallang with a collection of wildly different ways to
victory.

Faded former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver
picked up a third-round technical decision over China’s Ya Fei
Zhao, but not before suffering a gruesome kick to the
groin.

In the third round, just hours after Eric
Prindle farcically axe kicked Thiago
Santosin the groin in
their Bellator 75 rematch in Hammond, Ind., a countering left
inside kick from Zhao collided straight with the cup of the
punching Pulver, whose reaction was a mixture of pain and sheer
shock. Pulver was driven to tears, biting on a towel, in hopes of
somehow regaining the ability to fight.

It simply wasn’t feasible: “Lil’ Evil” was stretchered from the
cage, but owing to his prior two rounds of striking and wrestling
success, was awarded the unanimous technical decision, advancing in
the One FC bantamweight bracket.

More impressively, Filipino standout Kevin
Belingon rebounded from the first two losses of his career with
a rousing-if-strange knockout of Dream veteran Yusup
Saadulaev.

“The Silencer,” who fell prey to a Masakazu
Imanari leglock in March before dropping a decision to South
Korean Soo Chul
Kim in August, worked away on top before landing a flurry of
short, accurate punches that sent Saadulaev stiff just long enough
for referee Yuji Shimada to dive in at 3:18 of the bout.

Former Shooto 132-pound world champion Masakatsu
Ueda was typically workmanlike, outgrappling South Korean
Min
Jung Song en route to a unanimous verdict. The tough-wrestling
BJJ black belt landed southpaw lefts and body kicks standing, but
mostly used his trusty front headlock series to pressure Song with
chokes for 15 minutes to nab the decision.

One FC has yet to announce the fourth quarterfinal bout for its
bantamweight tournament.

Free-swinging Dutchman Melvin
Manhoef, coming off a dubious split decision win over Jae Young
Kim at September’s Road FC
9 in South Korea, did what he does best against Pancrase
fixture Ryo
Kawamura, knocking the middleweight King of Pancrase stiff at
4:40 of the first frame. After four minutes of back-and-forth
punching on the feet, the 36-year-old Manhoef capitalized when
Kawamura bailed on a lazy double-leg, walking right into a crushing
right hook from “No Mercy.”